Light, "Ode to My Socks" (motif)
In "Ode to My Socks," the motif of light imbues the simple objects at the center of the poem with both whimsy and cosmic importance. The speaker compares the socks to dusk and refers to them as "celestial," implying not only that they are light-filled, but that they contain the mystery and beauty of the sky and stars. The speaker also compares the socks to fireflies, suggesting that they are alive and even conscious. Collectively, these references to light make the domestic, everyday socks appear mysterious and intriguing. Through references to light, Neruda undermines readers' expectations, claiming that socks and other everyday physical objects are worthy of reverence and interest.
Questions, "The Book of Questions," (motif)
In "The Book of Questions," Neruda experiments with the role of the poet, refusing to function as a source of information or authority. Through an unrelenting series of questions, he positions the reader as a figure of authority and puts his own speaker's uncertainty on display. At the same time, the question ceases to simply be a grammatical form and itself becomes a subject of the poem. Neruda examines how questions can reveal information about the mindset and preconceptions of the person asking them, even as they ostensibly serve only as means of gathering information. The questions in "The Book of Questions" are notably strange, exaggeratedly revealing the ways in which the speaker thinks. But these exaggerations highlight how any question at all can reveal as well as request information.
Flowers, "Love Sonnet XVII "(symbol)
The speaker of "Love Sonnet XVII" announces that brightly colored roses and carnations are poor representations of his love. Instead, his feelings are better represented by a plant whose flowers do not bloom and remain hidden. From these contrasts we can conclude that flowers symbolize the public, ceremonial face of love. This symbol functions on several levels at once. Neruda uses sensory images to stress the bright, attention-drawing quality of flowers. Yet he draws on the reader's previous knowledge: readers likely associate flowers with marriage, courtship, and ceremony. Therefore, to the speaker, flowers symbolize the performance of intimacy rather than the reality of it.
The sky, "Tonight I Can Write (The Saddest Lines)," (symbol)
The speaker of this poem is heartbroken, and everything he encounters in the outside world only makes him feel more heartbroken. Therefore, the open sky makes him feel even more alone than he already does. But, he mentions, the very same sky made him feel inspired and excited when he was happier and in love. Therefore, the sky comes to represent the indifference and mutability of the natural world. Rather than nature influencing the poem's speaker, nature merely reflects, amplifies, and reinforces whatever is happening to the humans observing it. As a result, the very same sky can create vastly different effects depending on the emotions of the observer—not because it cares about or responds to human feelings, but because it is unaffected by them.
The Tuna (symbol)
The speaker in "Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market" experiences a series of emotionally intense and even epiphanic moments upon encountering a dead tuna for sale. As a result, the fish is elevated to the status of the symbolic, standing in for the dignity and knowledge of the natural world. Even while physically defeated by human commercial structures—after all, the tuna is now dead for the purpose of human consumption—the speaker considers it a carrier of mysterious wisdom unavailable to humanity. Indeed, the fact that the tuna has come from such a strange and (to the speaker) harsh environment only adds to its symbolic weight: "only you /lived through / the sea's truth, survived / the unknown, the / unfathomable /darkness," the speaker tells it, ensuring that readers understand that the tuna holds far more significance than that of a mere animal or object. It is a reminder, for the speaker, of that which lies outside of human knowledge.
